Mike_AA

I thought I'd start this one before the mayhem begins. I really enjoy reading about system launches, with pictures, stories and so forth. So I thought we could get this up and ready for when the big days finally arrive. Feel free to post links to websites featuring quality stories and pictures about the Gamecube or X-Box launch.

EZ3

It was pretty laid back here in Minnesota. I arrived at Wal-Mart at 11:15pm, there were 31 people in front of me (paying customers, not counting friends/family) and 34 systems total to give out. I'd say maybe 20 or so more people showed up after me.

Most of the people were guys in there 20's, but there were some teenagers and a few families also. Everybody was in a good mood and talking, a few people were playing board games like Monopoly (MS? Monopoly? Irony?). The ones at the head of the line had apparently been there for 6 hours or so. I asked some people about the Gamecube expecting a lot of people would be getting both systems eventually, but to my surprise not one person had any love for Nintendo. Most didn't seem to have a PS2 either, although alot had Dreamcasts.

The ones at the end of the line that didn't get systems seemed to be planning to hit Target at 8am, although people were saying Best Buy would be a better option since they were reportedly getting around 200 units. Wal-Mart didn't have a good selection of games however, and unfortunately had zero! copies of Halo so I think I'll head over to Best Buy myself in the morning.

Gallant Pig

Good thread!

EZ: Where in Minnesota?

EZ3

Sorry, I forgot to mention that part. I went to the Wal-Mart on Hwy 81 in Brooklyn Park. It was first come, first served - no tickets or numbers of any type.

And man, is the XBox big! Has to be about 10 pounds, reminds me of a car stereo amplifier. $319.46 bought me the console, a controller with 9' cable (looks like it seperates before the end so you can put in an extension), AV cable, power cord and instruction manual.

Good luck to everyone waking up early to get one. It'll be interesting to see if there's enough to go around.

mrglass

Since I usually get to work between 6:30 and 7:00, I decided to stop by a Wal-Mart near my job that opened at 6:00. I got there around 5:30 and there was a line with ten people in front of me. Mostly young teenagers, but a few moms as well. Anyway, the store manager comes out and starts handing out tickets. No ticket = no system. I was number 11 and the store only had 18 systems total. I didn't check out their videogames section because one guy said they didn't have that many copies of each game. Guess I'll head over to Best Buy or TRU on my lunch break to get Halo...

^^WR2^^

I got some new info for getting an Xbox later today....

Talked to my friend at CC and he told me that his store only got half of their consoles yesterday. They expect to get the other half late this morning or early afternoon. He said many other CC stores are in the same boat.

So if you come up empty this morning you might want to try CC later.

Happy hunting!

db27

Yesterday I got my Gamecube at the FYE where I work, we sold out in no time. Then we got a phone call from Nintendo!! Oops, turns out Nintendo decided not to alter there own street date as planned, but my company didn't notify the stores soon enough!!

Oh well, I got mine, and individual store are not penalized.

I was however disappointed with Madden, having played NFL Fever for a couple of days on the XBOX at work. I've also not ever played a Madden game, so perhaps I'm not used to it. But no question that NFL Fever for XBox looks better.

Luigi's Mansion though, WOW!!!

Tuan Jim

IIRC that's a breakaway plug so that if someone trips on the cable it won't pull down the whole box, but will just pull snap the cable there. Something about how the box could kill a small child if it landed on them ;p (I'm sure you've heard those jokes too).

I won't be picking mine up till this afternoon, but FYE said they hold all preorders for 2 days so it shouldn't be a problem -- as long as they still have individual controllers in stock.

Tuan Jim

Michael T Hudson

Austin was the same as well. I went by Wal Mart after work about 4:15 to see what the deal was. The line had started I figured what the hell only 8 hours. By the end of the night there were more than 42 systems but I could have gotten there much later and been fine. Oh well get to do it again on Sat. Only wish I has more time to play Halo last night.

dgc

It was fun. Got mine. Bill Gates was there and signed my box. not that he's my hero or anything but it was kind of cool.

Daryl

Went to Target here in Michigan. They opened at 8 am, I got there at 6am and was #13. The last ticket (#26) didn't get nabbed until about 7:50 am. Some people had been there overnight - some moms just showed up 30 minutes prior and got one anyway.

Daryl

agrall

I'm interested in how many places (if any) have X-Box's on the shelves this afternoon, or in the coming days... I'm much more likely to pick one up if I just see one somewhere my wife and I are shopping...

dgc

[*Dr. Evil Laugh*]
HHHmmmWWWhhhAAA, I'm one step closer to RULING the WORLD!!!!!
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Now listen all you fanboys, this is just a silly parody. Don't get offended.

dgc

That's right, he's paying me 2 million!!!
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Again, it's just a parody. I like the xbox and I bought the xbox. I'm just trying to beat Dennis Miller to the punch.

edstein

Like the Circuit City comment above, K-Mart for some reason did not get their complete shipment. They should be putting some more on the shelves this afternoon. I picked up a bundle at our Circuit City this morning. I plan on keeping NFL Fever but, will return PGR at Best Buy for Halo, DOA3, and HDTV kit.

EZ3

Well, I went to Best Buy at 10:30 this morning to pick up Halo and they had at least 30 XBoxes left with no line. They had 115 to start with, they said the Northtown store had about 250 units. The salespeople they had working the table tried to sell me the extended guarantee even though I got my unit at Wal-Mart. I said I didn't think they could do that, and the other salesperson confirmed that they could. They told me the Microsoft controller was only $29.99, I said I thought they were $39.99 and they said nope so I picked one up. The supervisor then came over and asked if I needed help, I said I was just picking up a controller and he also told me it was $29.99. I went to the checkout and was charged $39.99 of course. I was also told I couldn't get an extended plan since I bought from Wal-Mart. The cashier then held up the sale for a good minute or 2 while he tried to get me to spend an extra $7 on a warranty for the controller. This would apparently be the best purchase of my life, almost more important than the actual controller itself. See, there's these sticks on the controller that rise up, and you move those alot, and they for sure will break down in only a couple months. I'd be foolish not to purchase the extended plan.

I was foolish.

The moral of this story: I think there will be enough XBoxes to go around in the coming weeks. And the employees at my local Best Buy are stupid.

mkdevo

dgc - all i have to say is WOW! i was in NYC last night, and had no idea about the xbox sale at TRU. at around 10:55 we were walking down broadway from W 52nd to W 41st, and i was blown away by the line going down broadway! the countdown up on the screen, the hundreds of xbox 'staff' walking in groups down broadway, it made me wish i was there in the heat of it all. were there enough units for everyone in line?? that line was pretty damn long! would like to see more pics if you have them too.

Aghama

I stopped by TRU this morning at 9:30, and they had gotten a few more in than they had pre-orders, so I got a number and waited for 30 minutes or so, mainly because they were short on cashiers and the employees were pretty incompetent anyway. So just half an hour and no bundle, not too shabby.

Mike_AA

Awesome, glad to see this thread doing well....if anyone has any links to websites that have launch stories or pictures or links to other videogame boards with launch stories, I'd greatly appreciate it.

SmackDaddy

Circuit City's seem to have quite a few Xbox's lying around. I found out why at lunch.

I should have looked more closely at the ad, they did not have the consoles available seperately, but in a bundle w/ an extra controller and 2 games (Project Gotham and NFL Fever).

I can live with buying this bundle if I could choose the games, but you can't, AND you cannot buy the bundle, then return the games later because it's priced as a single unit, return the games you gotta return everything!!


The ad shows a pic of the Xbox on the right, to the left are Halo and DOA3, below are PG and NFL Fever. If you glance quickly at the ad it says you get the console and extra controller and 2 games w/min strategy guide, but does not state the games. GRRR!! Look closer and you notice that PG and NFL don't hav prices as they are the ones in the bundle.

I guess i'll wait a bit till the excitement dies down to get mine.

dgc

While I was there, I can not take credit for those pictures. I got them from .Yahoo News

Yes, It was quite the spectical. I was about 80th in line. I think I read some where that they had 1000 units available. I didn't really hang out too long. I pretty much went straight home as soon as I got mine. When I got home I thought my wife would be sleeping but she busted me setting up the xbox in our dedicated HT (mmmmm, gaming in HDTV and 5.1). I had promised her that I wouldn't set it up when I got home since I had work the next day. I lied, I played, and I payed the price. I'm falling a sleep at my desssskkkk rrrrighttttt knooowwwwwwww, ZZZzzzzzzz...

^^WR2^^

Yes, cc does have the bundle - but there are always ways around them .

I got mine, and they gave me a flyer that said all their xbox accessories are 10% off today only. I picked up another controller and it saved me some bucks.

If you got an xbox today it might be worth stopping at a cc to get the 10% off if you need any accessories.

Happy hunting! - now back to Halo.....

Jeraden

I got mine from Wal-Mart this morning, not much of a demand at the one I was at. I got there at 6am (opens at 7am) and was worried I wasn't going to get one. When I got there, there was nobody standing next to the entrance, but I saw a couple people in cars. It wasn't particularly cold out so after a couple minutes in the car I got out to go over to the door. That triggered everyone else, as 3 other people suddenly appeared from their cars and went for the door.

So at 6am there were 4 of us waiting at the door. The one guy said he had called the night before and they had 15 units. At about 6:20 an employee opened the outer door and said we can wait in the lobby. There was one young kid with his dad, an older couple (late 30s) who didn't look like they could even afford clothes let alone an xbox, and a scruffy looking guy who looked like he was in his early 30s. At about 6:40 some other old lady showed up, I figured she was just one of those old senior citizens that just get up early to do all their shopping as she had to be in her 60s. Its a very nasty sight to see a 60 year old right after they wake up, picture Tammy Faye Baker without her makeup. At about 6:45 the employee handed us tickets (only 5 of us) which is when I learned that the old lady was actually there for an X-box. The scruffy guy asked the employee about putting his x-box on layaway. I never understood the point of layaway (let them hold your money and make no interest on it?) but this guy didn't look too bright anyways. Who in the world camps out (at least an hour) for something just to put it on layaway? Guess he was afraid demand would be so big that they would be unavailable come Xmas? I'd have been pissed if I just missed out on an x-box by 1 person and found someone before me put one on layaway.

So at 7am the doors opened, 4 of us bought our consoles while the scruffy guy went back to put his on layaway. They had us purchase the x-boxes up front at the Customer Service desk instead of back in electronics. I got mine, put it in the car, then went back in to go to electronics to pick out some games. There was no employee in sight at 7am in electronics and I noticed they didn't have the HD AV Packs in stock anyways, so I just left and will stop by Best Buy on the way home where they have game deals anyways. Not too smart of a business move to sell the boxes up front instead of back in electronics, as that doesn't encourage the customers to really buy any accessories to go with them.

Wasn't really a big rush at this one as only 5 out of the 15 units were sold by the time they opened.

Michael T Hudson

Same here brother. I am about to fall asleep.

joltaddict

Nightmare morning. I started near Philly and ended up in the Shore Mall in Atlantic City.

Went to the Walmart that was opening at 6am at 4:30. There were aprox a dozen people. They only had 11 boxes. Quick ran to the Toys R Us where an employee confirmed that every Box was earmarked to fufill preorders. Then off to KMart. The guy greets us at the door saying they didnt recieve ANY. He seemed pretty surprised by it too, you think they would have known.

Now Im desperate so I head for the closest Mall. Nothing. Now Im halfway to the shore. Theres only one mall a Best Buy, one Target and a Circuit City between me and the ocean. Mob scene at Best Buy no way Im getting in that line. Target's out. Circut City...

three left. But bundled. Fine. I bend over and take it.

But I got my Box.